voiceinsideyou

Sounds wicked guys - Speed mag rocks - and it's still only $8.95 over here which is pretty good. Anything we could get in there would be great! Even though it's an Austalian magazine, I think you'd find there's a fair few NZ readers too.

On the marketing topic - I'm not having a lot of luck with the business cards we have here. Perhaps it's the cards; perhaps it's just too hit and miss. As mentioned before, a lot of Lexus owners are just wealthy matured men, not necessarily car enthusiasts! An ad in Speed or getting that kind of coverage if possible is much more likely to find the "right" kind of people. Stands at car shows and stuff too, of course...!

Heh, welcome. :-]

Btw, those are some MAD alloys, Spanky69r! :-)

So where is the heated seat button in the L editions then, if they have both SNOW and TRC buttons?

Oh, and check here for a relatively accurate options list on the Altezzas:

http://www.japanvehicles.com/newcars/toyota/Altezza/main.htm

I think the IS200 feature set is closely approximated by an L-edition AS200 on those pages.

Background info: http://www.bonsaicars.com/Altezza/

More feature info: http://english.auto.vl.ru/catalog/toyota/altezza/

Regarding your purchase, I'm not sure what the others here would say - but I really would reccomend getting an RS200 Altezza rather than the IS200 Lexus. Low down torque is arse on the RS200s, but they are significantly more powerful (see pinned threads).

Standard things to look out for (in case you haven't seen already) are whether the factory head unit's CD stacker has the 'ERROR 3' jamming problem, how clunky the gearbox is etc.

As for fuel economy, with my RS200Z, I get a shocking 6.7-7kms per L. :P Probably says more about the way I drive it though.

JDM: (albeit a tad bent!)

http://nz.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...e_gallery&id=39

How does the Blitz compare, AltezzaNZ? Haven't heard too mcuh about them...

And incidentally, heated seats were an L-edition and/or Lexus option afaik. Do the L-editions then not have the SNOW button, or is it mounted elsewhere?

The 6x9s bolted straight into mine too, couple of new screw holes. Plenty of room under the passenger seats for amps too. :D

Matt...How much are we looking at, for the DIN ?

Also, has any members done this? and where did they put the heated seats and TRAC buttons?

Not sure how much they cost now, but I recently got mine and it was $115 shipped. This was a special price as I got it with my eyelids though.

The DIN unit that frylai can source has room for two buttons to be mounted, i.e. TRC and Snow normally, although TRC and heated seats would work.

Instead of having the factory head unit, and then the separate plastic clipped in bit that holds the buttons, you have a single plastic unit.

One thing to be wary of is that even with the double DIN surround in place, you will likely end up with a 3-4mm gap between the faceplate of your aftermarket head unit and the surround - it's not generally possible to fit the surround that comes with your aftermarket head unit into this gap between the faceplate and surround.

Talking to the guys at Streetsoundz, they said that Matt's surround was much better than the one they sourced locally though, so probably the best you can do. :-)

I'll post pics of what I mean regarding the gap this weekend if I can borrow a digicam. :]

That's absolutely insane - I love it. :o Good pics too...

Be careful, dude! :D

I loved my first car, a Honda Civic Si I had for 6 years and only just recently sold - and it shat on the Altezza 0-50kmh :D

That sucks ecc0, seriously bad luck :/

I still don't quite get why the headunit is an integral part of the system - any ideas?

I mean sure, if you want to hear the voice navigation and/or TV...

Weird thing is that I took out my factory head unit and replaced it, and now the navigation screen has some weird error on it that apparently translates as "You cannot operate the navigation system with the car door open" ... :-o

Also, read here: http://nz.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=761 for a BIG discussion/argument recently. :P

Both of those have the Torsen LSD, if they're both manual.

Well said, well said.... :P

So... do you have an Altezza? I am so confused about this alarm thing now... !

Is my car supposed to have a factory alarm or not? :-o

Guess I should just try and set it off eh... :P

Hmm, do the Altezza's have factory alarm? I can't find any reference, but when I bought the car, I was pretty sure it did. However, although the car has a red LED up front, it doesn't do the usual flashing!

Bah, I'm replacing whatever it has with an AVS 9000 or S5 next week anyway. :D

I stand wholly corrected! Will aftermarket 7x10s fit straight in (with appropriate hole drilling)? I shall have to change to another speaker perhaps.... Woo, even more midbass :P

I'm definitely replacing all the wiring as the rears are gonna have 100W RMS going through 'em. :-)

Still a Nokia 3310! :P I love the phone - it's the only phone that I've found that can keep up with my furious txting speed! I use lots of phones in my job, and get to play with heaps of new ones and none have matched the standard I require! The new colour Nokias are finally catching up again now though... not bad. Still all about Sony Ericsson though. :P T610/630 would be my first choice probably.

Still waiting on the promised pics, Matt :P

Get to them from underneath in the boot, afaik. But then again, I'm a dubious source as mine have mysteriously been removed.

About to be replaced with Soundstream XTS6.9s though - so I hope the holes are 6x9! :D

... which is the page I posted. :P

Is it not just that the engines must be governed at 180kmh? THus the speedo could go as high as one wants?

Next tire change i plan on using 225 40 up front and 235 40 in the rear

That's what I'm running, on 18"s.

Mine doesn't have an understeer bias that's for sure... but then again, I'm running super hard platform suspension and both front and rear sways... :P

E.g. All RS200 6MT have TRC control, but TRC = optional for RS200 5AT(L,Z, basic)  + all other AS200s

Not sure this is right - I'm pretty sure TRC is only available on the Z and L RS 6spds, not the basics...

http://www.japanvehicles.com/newcars/toyot.../equipRS200.htm

Is the most definitive and accurate list I've seen.